This application claims the benefit of Russian Application No. RU20010349, filed Feb. 9, 2000, in the Russian Patent Office, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.
1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to electronic and quantum devices, and more particularly, to laser cathode-ray tubes, e.g., used in projection television systems for displaying images on large screens.
2. Description of the Related Art
Projection television equipment based on conventional cathode ray tubes (CRT) having a luminescent screen is widely used for displaying images on projection screens having an area of up to several square meters. However, the size of an image on the projection screens of such equipment is limited as luminescent screens cannot form light flux of high intensity, thus making it difficult to form television images having the required brightness and contrast.
An effective way to improve the parameters of a projection television systems is to connect with laser CRTs (see, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,558,956).
As distinct from conventional CRTs, the source of radiation in the laser CRT is a laser target, not a luminescent layer, the laser target representing a thin semiconductor mono-crystalline plate having both its parallel surfaces covered by light reflecting coatings.
A fully reflecting mirror metal coating is usually applied to the surface on which the electron beam is incident, while the opposed side of the plate is covered with a semitransparent mirror coating. The mirror surfaces constitute an optical resonator, while the semiconductor plate between them acts as an active medium of the laser with electron-beam excitation (pumping).
The laser target is fixed to a substrate of a transparent dielectric material, the substrate serving as the optical output window of the laser CRT and also as a heat sink for the laser target. The substrate is usually made of sapphire having a high thermal conductivity. The laser target, together with the transparent substrate, constitutes the screen of the laser CRT (laser screen).
The electron beam penetrates into the semiconductor plate through the metal coating and induces spontaneous light radiation. When the surface density of the current produced by the beam on the laser target exceeds a threshold value, the power of the induced light radiation will be greater than the losses in the optical resonator and the element of the laser target on which the electron beam is incident will generate laser radiation.
When the light passes repeatedly through the resonator, its spectrum narrows, with the result being that the emitted light is substantially monochromatic. The laser light is radiated through the semitransparent mirror coating in essence perpendicularly to the surface of the semiconductor plate and leaves the CRT through the sapphire output window.
Because the threshold value of the beam density decreases with a decrease in the temperature of the laser target, the laser screens are usually cooled to cryogenic temperatures in order to increase the intensity of the light radiation produced by the CRT and decrease its power requirements.
Known is a laser CRT (V. N. Ulasjuk. Kvantoskopy. xe2x80x9cRadio i svjazxe2x80x9d, Moscow, 1988,p. 105,207) comprising a vacuum bulb provided with a metal flange, a laser screen secured in the metal flange and having a laser target mounted on the side of the vacuum bulb.
For required acceleration of the electron beam, the laser target shall be under a high positive potential (about 30-70 kV) with respect to the cathode. In the known laser CRT, the cathode is connected to a source of a high negative potential, while the laser target is grounded. With the accelerating voltage supplied in this manner, the laser screen can be easily connected to the grounded system for cooling the laser target.
However, application of the high potential to the cathode extremely complicates the electrical circuits connected to the cathode and to the electrodes adjacent to the cathode. Such circuits include, for example, cathode filament supply circuits, video signal amplifiers, bias voltage sources, etc.
The complexity of these electrical circuits is caused by the necessity to take measure for electrically isolating these circuits from ground and results in an increase in the manufacturing expenses and thus in the cost of apparatuses based on such laser CRT""S.
On the other hand, if the cathode is grounded and a high positive potential is applied to the laser target, the laser target shall be isolated from the flange which is used to attach the CRT to the grounded cooling system.
As a result, the electrical field of high intensity occurs between, on the one hand, the laser target with the elements providing application of the high potential to the laser target and, on the other hand, the metal flange.
The large electric field strength is caused by relatively small distances between the grounded flange and the elements which are at the high positive potential, including the laser target. The large electric field strength may, in turn, result in the appearance of electrical discharges, such as breakdowns or micro discharges, in the high-voltage interspace between the flange and the above-mentioned elements which are at the high potential.
The breakdown of the high-voltage interspace can result in complete destruction of the CRT, while frequent micro discharges reduce the service life of the laser CRT and impair the quality of the image formed by it.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a laser CRT capable of grounding the electrical circuits connected to the cathode of the CRT, while preventing at the same time the occurrence of electrical discharges between the metal flange of the vacuum bulb and the laser target and elements connected thereto, to decrease thereby the manufacturing expenses and cost of the equipment without substantially reducing the CRT service life.
Additional objects and advantages of the invention will be set forth in part in the description which follows and, in part, will be obvious from the description, or may be learned by practice of the invention.
With the above and other objects in view, there is proposed a laser CRT comprising a vacuum bulb provided with a metal flange, a laser screen secured in the metal flange and having a laser target mounted on the side of the vacuum bulb, the laser target being electrically insulated from the metal flange, a high-voltage input passing through the wall of the vacuum bulb at a distance from the metal flange, an electrically conductive element disposed inside the vacuum bulb and connecting the laser target to the high-voltage input, and two screening electrodes mounted inside the vacuum bulb in the interspace between the wall of the vacuum bulb, the metal flange, the high-voltage input and the electrically conductive element, wherein the screening electrodes are respectively connected to the high-voltage input and to the metal flange and extend from them towards each other so as to prevent electrical discharges between the metal flange and high voltage input and between the metal flange and electrically conductive element in the interspace.
The application of high potential through the high-voltage input and electrically conductive element to the laser target electrically insulated from the metal flange of the CRT provides the possibility of grounding both the cooling system connected to the metal flange of the CRT, and the electrical circuits connected to the cathode of the CRT, thus allowing significant simplification of the equipment using the laser CRT.
However, in such a laser CRT, the distance between its grounded parts and its parts which are at a high potential (i.e., between, on the one hand, the metal flange of the CRT and, on the other hand, the high-voltage input, the electrically conductive element and the laser target) becomes much less than in the known laser CRT.
With the potential of the laser target having been set, a decrease in the distance leads to an increase in the electric field strength, which, in turn, causes electrical discharges in the form of breakdowns or micro discharges to appear in the high-voltage interspace between the wall of the vacuum bulb, the metal flange, the high-voltage input and the electrically conductive element.
Such discharges are most likely to appear if the high-voltage interspace includes local areas of elevated electric field strength. Such areas occur near elements that are pointed or have a small diameter, in particular, near the high-voltage input, which has a relatively small diameter, in the region of an angular connection of the electrically conducting element with the laser target, and on sharp edges of the CRT metal flange.
The introduction, according to the invention, of the screening electrodes makes it possible to screen the above-mentioned areas and to form a uniformly distributed electrical field having no local sites of excessively increased intensity in the high-voltage interspace.
The breakdown strength of the high-voltage interspace is thus increased, thereby permitting the laser target potential to be increased up to a required value without the occurrence of breakdowns and micro discharges, or at least with their frequency being low enough so as to minimize a deterioration in the service life and quality of a formed image of the laser CRT.
The screening electrodes preferably have edges facing each other and having a rounded form, e.g., they may be bent back. The rounded form of the electrodes provides a smaller electric field strength around their edges. The radius of the roundness of the screening electrodes preferably exceeds approximately 1 mm. The screening electrodes may be bent toward the wall of the vacuum bulb. Preferably, the screening electrodes have polished surfaces.
The screening electrode connected with the metal flange preferably has its edge nearest the high-voltage input spaced from the high-voltage input by a distance smaller than that by which the metal flange edge nearest the high-voltage input is spaced from the high-voltage input. This allows the sharp edge of the metal flange soldered in the glass vacuum bulb of the CRT to be screened from the CRT elements which are at the high potential, and thus prevents a high electric field strength area from appearing around this edge of the metal flange.
The above-mentioned electrically conductive element preferably includes a ring embracing a space behind the laser target, while the screening electrodes include rings embracing the ring constituting the electrically conductive element. With the electrically conductive element and the screening electrodes so configured, the most uniform distribution of the electric field intensity all over the high voltage interspace is achieved.
A ring made of dielectric material may be attached to the laser screen on the side of the laser target, the dielectric ring being mounted in the space between the rings of the screening electrodes and the ring constituting the electrically conductive element. The presence of the dielectric ring makes it possible to further increase the breakdown strength of the high voltage interspace.
The above-mentioned electrically conductive element may include a coating made of a conductive material and deposited on the inner surface of the dielectric ring. Such a combined design of the dielectric ring and the electrically conductive element makes the manufacture of the CRT substantially less labor-consuming. The high-voltage input may be connected with the above-mentioned conductive coating using a contact spring.